Bellingham airport traffic down compared to first half of 2013

The Bellingham International Airport is off last year's pace when it comes to passenger traffic.

For the first six months of 2014, the number of passengers flying out of the airport totaled 282,479, down 9.4 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data compiled by the Port of Bellingham.

Last year set a record in terms of traffic for the airport, with 595,074 passengers flying out of Bellingham. A drop in traffic was expected in 2014 with no new destinations added and a cutback in flights to Hawaii during the summer.

Allegiant Air had the most passengers flying out of Bellingham in the first six months of 2014, with 153,467, followed by Alaska/Horizon (126,408) and Frontier Airlines (2,604), which began its seasonal flights to Denver in May.